Uber's fourth-quarter loss narrows to US$1.1b

An advertisement for the Uber car and ride-sharing service Uber is seen on a bus stop in Paris, France, March 11, 2016. — Reuters pic

NEW YORK, Feb 14 — Uber Technologies Inc narrowed its fourth-quarter loss to US$1.1 billion (RM4.33 billion) from a loss of US$1.46 billion in the previous quarter, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The ride-hailing company’s quarterly revenue rose 11.8 per cent to US$2.2 billion from its previous quarter, the source said.

Uber has gone on to raise more than US$14 billion in new funding and last month closed a deal with SoftBank Group Corp in which the Japanese conglomerate, along with other investors, took about a 17.5 per cent stake in the company.

Silicon Valley-based Uber’s quarterly gross bookings rose 14 per cent to US$11.1 billion from the third quarter, the person said.

The company had previously reported third-quarter net loss of US$1.46 billion on net revenue of US$2 billion. Uber had gross bookings of US$9.7 billion in the previous quarter.

Uber said last week that it would pay US$245 million worth of its own shares to Alphabet Inc’s Waymo self-driving vehicle unit to settle a legal dispute over trade secrets, allowing Uber’s chief executive to move past one of the company’s most bruising public controversies. — Reuters